The Best Day
by nicnac918
Summary: All Might saves Izuku from the slime villain when the boy is only four years old. Things proceed accordingly.


AN:Title is a reference to Taylor Swift's song "The Best Day" because that's pretty much exactly the mood I'm going for here.

* * *

There was something especially vile about villains that would willingly and deliberately harm a child.

He was an innocent, defenseless child, not more than five years old, probably younger, and yet that slime villain was completely wrapped around him and pushing himself down the boy's throat. It was unacceptable, unconscionable, it was absolutely repugnant.

All Might found he rather enjoyed stuffing this particular villain into the pair of soda bottles he had on hand from his trip to the convenience store. Though how he had actually managed to fit the entire villain into those two bottle he wasn't entirely sure, despite having just done it a moment ago.

That left only the little boy, still lying unconscious on the ground. If he were older All Might would be able to just wake him up, ensure he had taken no permanent damage, and then be on his way, but he could hardly do that when the boy was so young. The easiest and most efficient thing to do would be to bring the boy to the police station – he could hand over the boy to be reunited with his family and the villain to be incarcerated at the same time. But being a hero wasn't about doing what was easy or efficient; it was about doing what was right. The boy was young enough that he couldn't have possibly wandered far. Either he must live nearby or have been out with his parents or other caregiver who was even now looking frantically for him. The villain was contained for the moment, so All Might's top priority was to see this boy back to the loving arms of his family.

All Might crouched down and gently tapped on the boy's cheek to wake him. After a moment the boy's eyes fluttered open, then went wide as the boy shrieked and jumped backward. Out of excitement All Might hoped, but he remained crouching to ensure he didn't frighten the boy by towering over him.

"Sorry 'bout that back there. I didn't mean to get you caught up in my justicing. Usually I pay more attention to keeping bystanders safe, but it turns out this city's sewer system is pretty difficult to navigate. Anyway, no need to worry now; I've captured the evildoer," All Might reassured the boy, holding up the two bottles full of slime villain.

"A-al-l Mi-ight?" The boy stuttered.

"Yes, I am here," All Might answered.

The boy stared at the two bottles and, not appearing to realize he was doing it, his hands came up to cover his mouth and throat. His eyes began to well up with tears as the full force of what just happened seemed to hit him. Then in less time than an eye-blink the boy launched himself at All Might, gripping onto his shirt and sobbing in earnest.

Well. Ah. The thing about that was… All Might liked kids. Loved them even. He loved their innocence, laughter, and youthful vigor. He just didn't know how to behave around them outside of rescuer-rescuee dynamics. Still, since the boy was hanging onto him, the logical move was to hold him back, right? So All Might carefully tucked the bottles full of villain back into his pants' pockets and wrapped his arms around the little boy. When that seemed to work – or didn't make things worse at least – he added in some back-rubbing and saying things like, "it's alright" and "you're safe now" and "I am here." The last one he was careful not to say too many times; it might be his catchphrase, but he didn't want to overuse it.

After a few minutes the boy's sobs petered out and eventually came to a stop altogether. The boy took a step back and began to rub his eyes dry with his fists.

"There, feeling better now?" All Might asked.

The boy sniffed and nodded.

"Good! Now I'm sure your parents are worried about you; do you know where they are?"

"Mama's at home," the boy answered.

"And your father?"

The boy shrugged. "Dunno. He doesn't live with us."

That could mean a myriad of different things, but as the boy didn't seem distressed by it, All Might decided to leave it be. "Well then," he said, swinging the boy up into his arms. He gave a quick pat to his pockets to ensure the bottles were still there – wouldn't want to lose those! – and smiled at the boy, "We best be getting you home to your mother."

The boy's eyes, which already seemed impossibly big to begin with, got impossibly bigger. "A-all Might is going to carry me home?" he squeaked.

All Might laughed. "That's the plan. Point the way, my boy!"

The faint blush staining the boy's cheeks began to deepen and spread, until he buried his face against All Might's chest again to hide how the whole thing had grown as bright as a tomato. Luckily his embarrassed ducking was accompanied by a single finger pointing further down the road, which was enough to get started with.

All Might allowed the boy a minute to regain his composure before he tried drawing him out again. "So you know who I am, but what's your name, my boy?"

The boy slowly peeked up at him, his face still lightly stained pink, but much better than it had been. "I'm Midoriya Izuku. I'm four-and-a-half years old."

"It's nice to meet you, young Midoriya," All Might said, and Midoriya returned the greeting. That established, All Might flipped through his mental list of "good questions to ask children." Given Midoriya's rather ambivalent response about his father, All Might decided to skip over any of the family related questions and instead landed on "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Midoriya looked down. "I wanna be a hero," he mumbled.

That was odd. Not the answer itself – honestly All Might would have been more surprised if the boy hadn't said he wanted to be a hero given the popularity of the answer – but the way he had said it. Bashful mumbling All Might would have expected or even exuberance, but Midoriya sounded downright despondent.

Well that just wouldn't do! "What kind of hero do you want to be?" All Might asked, hoping to gently draw the truth from the boy.

"The best kind," Midoriya answered.

"And what kind would that be?"

"The kind just like you!" Ah, see there was the excitement. "I wanna be the number one hero who always smiles no matter how scary it is and helps everyone and keeps them all safe so they can all smile too all the time."

All Might laughed and gave the boy a light toss up into the air, the combined effort of which earned him an answering laugh from young Midoriya. "That sounds like an excellent kind of hero."

Midoriya's grin lasted a second more before his lower lip started to wobble again. "Only… only do you think I can still be that kind of hero even if I don't have a quirk?" He didn't look All Might in the eyes when he asked the question, but that didn't stop All Might from seeing the tears forming there.

Oh. Without really thinking about it, Toshinori hugged the boy a little closer. "You're young yet, my boy," All Might said encouragingly. "You might still…"

But Midoriya was already shaking his head. "Mama an' me went to the doctor and he said I'm not gonna get a quirk 'cause my feet are bad." He looked up at All Might imploringly. "But I still wanna be a hero just like you, All Might! I can, can't I? Can't I?"

It wasn't the tears that got him. Not the tears nor the quavering voice nor the heartbroken expression. It wasn't even the parallel situation of this little quirkless boy wanting to be a hero so badly, all so he could help people and give them someone to look up to. The thing that really dug itself into Toshinori's chest and made his heart ache was Midoriya's rushed comment: he wasn't going to get a quirk because "his feet were bad."

Most people probably would have had no idea what the boy meant by that. To be honest, All Might himself had forgotten about it at some point over the years. But Midoriya had brought it all rushing back. His feet were bad. Toshinori could remember being younger, staring down at his bare feet and hating that little bend in his pinky toe. That extra joint that meant he was never going to develop a quirk. Never going to achieve his dream.

It took a false start, but All Might was able to answer the question with the same level of cheer he always exhibited. "There are two things you need if you want to become a hero, young Midoriya." The boy's eyes were downcast, as though he was already expecting to be disappointed. All Might did not allow himself to falter. "The first is a strong heart, to always desire to help and protect others. The second is a strong fighting spirit, to always push you to do your best. Do you have both of those things?"

Watching Midoriya's expression shift was like watching the sun come up in high speed. "I do!"

"Well then young man, you too can become a hero."

Midoriya was crying too hard to reply, but he didn't need to. His blinding smile was answer enough.

* * *

One thing All Might hadn't anticipated about being the Number One Hero and the Symbol of Peace was the sheer volume of fan mail he received. He had been vaguely expecting there to be a lot, but there really was _a lot_. Just a tremendous amount.

Back in his early days of being a pro-hero, All Might had personally replied to each piece of fan mail he received. It had seemed like the least he could do for the fans who were supporting him so earnestly. But as he got more and more popular and more and more letters started coming in, he simply didn't have time to write out individual responses to it all. Instead he started pre-writing responses. Answers to the most commonly asked questions, acceptance of gratitude for saving someone's life, livelihood, or loved ones, a few different versions of paragraphs expressing his own gratitude for the support, that sort of thing. Then all he, or later his administrative staff, had to do was pull together the appropriate pieces to create a reply that All Might had still personally written, if not in direct response to any specific letter. He felt bad about it, but not as bad as he would have felt if he had failed to save someone because he had been too busy writing letters. And he did still read all his fan mail. Well, he skimmed it all at least.

Because he was skimming through the letters, he breezed right past the name Midoriya Izuku without noticing the significance of it. It wasn't until he read the mention of the boy being quirkless that his attention was truly caught and he slowed down enough to recognize the reference to the slime villain and saving a young boy and then walking him home.

He took the time to really read and absorb the letter, and by the end of it Toshinori was grinning in delight at young Midoriya's obvious excitement and enthusiasm. Without giving it a moment's thought, he pulled the letter out of the stack of those to go back to the administrative staff so he could instead reply to it personally. Young Midoriya had such a big dream that so many people around him were going to doubt and put down; he deserved a little extra encouragement.

* * *

All Might paused in his walk through the PR department, his attention caught by a large group of people all gathered together around one desk. Normally he would assume they were working on some project or other and leave them to it, but he swore he heard cooing coming from that general direction. After glancing at the clock and confirming he still had ten minutes until his next meeting, All Might walked over to the group to see what the fuss was about.

Baby pictures. Mrs. Takanada's daughter had turned one the day before, and everyone had gathered around to fawn over the pictures of the little girl at her birthday party. The group was momentarily surprised by All Might's appearance, but apparently a willingness to admire pictures of young children being adorable was all that was required to join.

Pretty soon everyone was sharing pictures of the children in their own lives. Mr. Mazaki had a picture of his own daughter dressed up and photographed professionally. Mrs. Mori had a video of her infant son laughing uproariously in a very humorous manner. The young intern Ishikawa had a photo of her much younger cousin, grinning hugely to show his missing two front teeth. There was a video of Mrs. Shibata's grandson trying and failing to stick out his own tongue, going as far as to reach into his mouth with his hand to try to physically drag it out. Then there was the picture of Mr. Kimura's niece performing in a school play where the children dressed up as pro-heroes that had Toshinori pulling out his own phone.

Since that first letter just over a year ago now, young Midoriya had written All Might every week with the regularity and religious devotion of small child, and All Might had replied to each one just as faithfully. At first they had been actual letters, but eventually they had switched over to email, conveniently so as it meant Toshinori already had the picture he'd been sent yesterday evening stored on his phone.

He quickly pulled it up, turned his phone around so everyone could see Midoriya in his slightly too-large All Might onesie pajamas.

"I didn't know you had a _son_, All Might," Mrs. Takanada said. Everyone's eyes had gone wide with surprise, and young Ishikawa was practically squealing with delight.

"Oh, no, young Midoriya here is a… family friend." The term didn't feel quite right, somehow both more and less than what Toshinori's actual relationship to Midoriya was, but it was sufficient to redirect everyone's attention to cooing over Midoriya. As they should.

In the end, All Might was a full fifteen minutes late to his meeting. He considered it time well-spent.

* * *

This was quite possibly a little ridiculous. In fact, it was in all probability very ridiculous. Toshinori just didn't want to admit to that because he still had some dignity left. Theoretically.

When he'd left his office this morning, he had decided his idea of visiting the Midoriyas while he was in town was intrusive; for all the letters and emails they'd exchanged, he'd only actually met young Midoriya and his mother in person once after all. Except once he'd arrived in Musutafu it seemed ruder to come to town and not at least attempt to visit. Only now he didn't have access to the Midoriyas' address, carefully written down and stored in a desk drawer at home, and he wasn't sure where exactly they lived. He remembered the general area well enough, but when he reached the apartment building there were three identical ones all next to each other, and he couldn't be completely confident in his recollection that the middle one was the correct one. Even if he was correct in that, he had no clue which apartment was theirs. He could just walk down the hallways going door by door checking nameplates until he found the one reading Midoriya, but that he was sure was beneath his dignity. He… still might do that, but it seemed prudent to explore other options first.

After deciding it was unfair to ask a police officer to break into his home for him to check the address – Tsukauchi would do it, but it seemed unfair to ask – All Might settled on doing an informal patrol in the area. And if he happened to pass by parks and other places young children might go to with unusual frequency, well then it could arguably be a coincidence. It wasn't, but it could be.

All Might was well aware his plan wasn't a good one, so no one was more surprised than him when it actually worked. He was passing by one of the aforementioned parks when he heard a group of children who sounded like they were having some kind of argument. And there was young Midoriya in the flesh, standing protectively in front of another boy as another group of three boys advanced on them. All Might felt burst of pride at Midoriya's behavior, but he could not allow the situation to stand. He jumped in the air and landed lightly between the two groups. "I am here!" he declared, posing heroically.

All five boys' eyes went wide with surprise and excitement and not a little hero-worship – including Midoriya's All Might was amused to note.

"It's All Might," said the blonde boy who appeared to be the leader of the group of three.

"Yes, it is I! It's good to see you again, young Midoriya," he said.

The blonde boy gave Midoriya an accusing glare, "You know All Might?"

Midoriya looked down at his feet. "I told you I did, Kacchan."

Toshinori blinked in surprise. He recognized that name; Midoriya had mentioned the boy a number of times as being a friend of his. Perhaps this situation was not what he had assumed. Best to just keep things casual until he knew for sure. "Midoriya and I met some time ago when I saved him from a villain attack, and now I'm excited for an opportunity to meet some of his friends."

The other boys each introduced themselves and All Might greeted them all in turn. Once he'd finished he turned back to Bakugo – Midoriya's Kacchan. "Young Bakugo, Midoriya tells me you want to be a hero someday like he does."

Bakugo grinned. "Yeah, when I grow up I'm going to be the Number One hero, because I've got a really powerful quirk." He held his hands palm up in front of him and set off a few explosions. They were relatively small, but very impressive given his young age. "See? Way better than quirkless Deku."

Toshinori felt his lips wanting to twitch downward into a frown, but he managed to hold his expression. "That is a very remarkable quirk, but that's not the right attitude to have if you want to be a hero. Heroes support each other. That goes double for the Number One hero. If you're strong, then it's your responsibility to shore up your compatriots' weaknesses, knowing they will do the same for you if the situation becomes reversed. Even I require assistance from my sidekick, Sir Nighteye."

Bakugo looked rather doubtful, but not outright dismissive. Toshinori could only hope he'd managed to impart a good lesson.

"But it's getting late," All Might said. "I'm sure you all need to get home for dinner."

"Yeah, alright," Bakugo said. He started to run off, but then paused and looked back over his shoulder "But watch out All Might! One of these days I'll surpass you and become Number One!"

"I look forward to it," All Might called back. "And be sure to eat all your vegetables!" There, eating healthy, that was always a good lesson for young children.

After everything Toshinori was hopeful the initial encounter had only been a case of youthful high spirits. Still, he thought as he walked Midoriya home, he probably ought to keep an eye on the situation. More visits were definitely in order.

* * *

Toshinori strolled down the street, an ice cream cone in one hand and young Izuku's hand in the other. It was amazing the way he could be out here in public in his muscle form and have no one recognize him. It was a matter of perception and expectations. No one expected to see All Might in casual clothing, eating an ice cream cone and walking down the street in Musutafu, so they didn't notice him. Except, of course, for when they did.

"Oh my god, it's All Might." The speaker was a teenage girl, surrounded by a group of her friends. "And who is that with him; he is so cute!" With the hand not holding onto her friend's arm, the girl had her phone extended in front of her, clearly prepared to take a snapshot.

"No pictures of my young friend, please," All Might said, tucking Izuku behind him. It was one thing to show a few… dozen pictures of Izuku around his agency; he wouldn't have hired the people there if he couldn't trust their discretion. But he simply could not allow any random person to take pictures of Izuku and potentially post them online later. It could put the Midoriyas' privacy, and even their safety, at risk.

The girl looked disappointed at missing out on pictures of Izuku, a very understandable reaction. As a consolation, All Might offered, "Why don't I take a few pictures with you instead?"

That was met with predictable excitement, and All Might gave his ice cream to Izuku to hold while he took the promised pictures. It took a while, not the least because as he was taking pictures with the first group another group of people recognized him and asked for pictures of their own. Finally, after taking two group shots and an individual shot with each person there, Toshinori was able to return to Izuku.

He had been keeping one eye on the boy throughout the entire time of course, but apparently not close enough of an eye, because it wasn't until after All Might had finished that he realized Izuku had begun crying.

Toshinori kneeled down in front of the boy and smiled softly. "What's the matter, young Izuku?" Six months ago, before he had started seeing Izuku in person regularly he might have been in a near panic at the sight of the tears, but now… well, the boy did cry an awful lot.

"I'm really, really sorry," Izuku said. "I didn't mean to. It was just your ice cream was melting and it was getting all over my hand, so I licked the melty parts so it wouldn't be messy anymore, but I didn't ask if I could have some of it first. I'm sorry."

All Might laughed, mostly because he thought Izuku would take that better than his initial impulse to hug him and declare him to be the most adorable child to ever live. "I don't mind. I'm always happy to share with you."

"Really?" Izuku sniffed. "Even your ice cream?"

Toshinori ruffled the boy's hair. "Even my ice cream."

* * *

The sound of a throat clearing had All Might looking up from his computer. Nighteye was standing in the doorway to his office, giving him a very unusual sort of look. Or maybe a look like he thought All Might was very unusual which, come to think of it, wasn't that unusual of a look for Nighteye. "You might want to head down to the lobby," he said, then left before All Might could question him further.

How unusual. All Might shrugged, saved what he was working on, and headed downstairs. He didn't rush as it seemed safe to assume the matter wasn't urgent, but he knew Nighteye wouldn't seek him out to make such comments idly either. Best go investigate.

In the lobby there was a crowd of people from all different departments grouped together fawning over… something; there were a few too many for All Might to see who or what was in the center of the group, other than the vague certainty it was something lower to the ground than the average adult. Ah, maybe someone had brought in a stray kitten again!

Then Toshinori noticed the one person in the room not a part the crowd. Standing off to the side looking a little uncertain was Midoriya Inko. That could leave no doubt as to who was in the middle of the group.

"Young Izuku!" All Might pushed his way through the group, gently but firmly. As soon as the boy was in reach he grabbed Izuku and swung him up on top of his shoulders, well clear of everyone else.

"All Might!" Izuku said, voice bursting with delight. "We came to visit you."

"Indeed you have! What a pleasant surprise," said Toshinori, patting Izuku on the leg and smiling at Mrs. Midoriya.

"I hope it's not a bother us dropping by unnoticed," she said. "I had to come into the city for an errand and Izuku insisted we drop by."

"It's no trouble at all," he assured her. "You're both always welcome here."

"Of course you are," Ms. Sugiyama, the front desk receptionist, agreed. "We're all so excited to get to meet young Midoriya."

"You know who I am?" Izuku asked, sounding amazed.

"How could we not? All Might talks about you all the time. He's your number one fan."

Toshinori faked a cough and tried not to blush. "Come, Midoriyas," he said, quickly changing the subject. "Let me give you the tour."

* * *

For once All Might wasn't smiling. His arms were crossed and his expression – if he was managing to pull it off correctly – was stern and foreboding. Certainly Best Jeanist was looking a little alarmed, and a little like he wanted to tuck the boy animatedly talking to him under his arm and make a break for it. Toshinori could sympathize with that reaction; it was one he had been feeling himself less than ten minutes ago. Now however, the villain fight was over, and he had moved past alarmed and onto other emotions.

"Izuku," he said, coming to a stop just behind the boy.

Izuku gave a visible wince, then turned around and smiled brightly up at him. "Hi, All Might! That was a really impressive fight just now. You did great."

Toshinori continued to frown at the boy. "What's your mother's rule about villain fights?"

"I stayed behind the police tape!" Izuku said quickly. Toshinori gave a pointed look at said police tape, and Izuku hurriedly scuttled to the other side of it. "I did stay behind it for the whole fight. I only came over on the other side now because it was over, and I saw Best Jeanist and wanted to ask about how he managed to hold all those captive at once. And about- "

"Izuku," Toshinori interrupted, well aware the boy could go on for hours about all the things he wanted to ask. "What is your mother's rule about villain fights?"

Izuku's eyes dropped and he kicked at the ground with his toe. "No staying to watch them until after I'm ten. But I only came to watch because I already saw you here, and so I knew I would be safe."

All Might knew that was the image he gave off – he hadn't worked this hard to cultivate it without being aware of it – but Izuku's steadfast and unshakeable faith in him was always so humbling and overwhelming.

It was also beside the point at the moment. "I will always do everything in my power to keep you and everyone else safe, but that doesn't excuse your disobedience or reckless behavior, young man," All Might lectured, ignoring Izuku's rapidly watering eyes. "If that villain had managed to get past me, even for a second, you might have been seriously injured or worse. What would your mother do if something were to happen to you? What would I do?" It was that "or worse" that haunted Toshinori, a sickening sense of fear that curdled in his gut and spread like poison through his veins. It was that "or worse" that had almost become a self-fulfilling prophecy, the stark moment of terror at seeing Izuku just on the other side of the police line almost distracting him in what could have been a crucial moment.

Izuku was crying now, fat tears flowing thick and fast down his cheeks. "I'm sorry! I'm really, really sorry!"

"Don't apologize to me, go home and apologize to your mother for breaking her rule," All Might said.

Izuku nodded fervently. "I will. I promise. Can you – are you going to walk home with me?"

He would like to. In fact, Toshinori would like nothing more than to take Izuku home and wrap him up in blankets and never let him leave the house again. But that wasn't a productive impulse. "No, I have some more work to wrap things up here," All Might said. Izuku nodded and folded in on himself. Toshinori felt a stab of guilt. Was he being too harsh? He was trying to be stern because this was an important lesson and Izuku needed to learn it, but maybe he was being too harsh. "I'll be by to see you later," he added, trying to soften his voice just a little.

Izuku peeked up at him with big green eyes. "Okay." He stood there for a moment uncertainly, then before Toshinori could react, he darted in, gave him a lightning-fast hug, then darted away again, and ran off in the direction of the Midoriyas' apartment.

Toshinori sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Was that a good sign or a bad sign? Normally Toshinori considered hugs to be a positive thing, but it was out of character for Izuku to initiate physical affection, especially to that degree. He only really did it when he was seriously distressed, which could have only been caused by Toshinori's lecture, but he had still hugged Toshinori, the person who had just distressed him. Either that was confusing, or Toshinori was really bad at this. Probably both.

"I didn't know you had a kid," Best Jeanist said, startling All Might. He'd forgotten the other man was there.

"Ah. Izuku is…" he began, then abruptly gave up. Izuku was Izuku; All Might had never needed any more explanation than that, which meant he never had one to offer to anyone else when they asked. "Speaking of, did he get a chance to ask you for your autograph before I arrived? He's going to be upset later if he didn't get it."

* * *

All Might sighed. He really, really hated doing paperwork. But it did have to get done, and it was unfair of him to push all his on Nighteye all the time. Barring any emergencies that required his presence, there was nothing else he needed to do for the rest of the afternoon and evening, so he was going to tackle some of his own paperwork.

_A message is here! A message is here!_

All Might glanced down at his phone, assuring himself he was not procrastinating; whatever it was might be important.

**Midoriya Inko**: _Look what we found at the supermarket_

The message was followed by a picture of young Izuku, grinning at the camera and holding a tray of cupcakes decorated with an All Might theme. A few moments later, another message arrived.

**Midoriya Inko**: _You should come over for dinner and have cupcakes with us! –from Izuku. _

On the other hand, Nighteye really was just so good at doing paperwork.

* * *

It wasn't supposed to be like this. When Nana had died – when All for One had _killed her_ while Toshinori _ran away_ – he'd promised himself he'd avenge her. One day he would defeat All for One and stand over his downed form and laugh triumphantly. In most of these fantasies All for One's fallen body was unconscious, ready to be collected and contained by the police. But not in all of them.

Once the actual fight had begun, All Might saw those fantasies for the folly they were. There would be no easy victory, no triumphant laughter. He might be able to keep his promise, but he wouldn't be able to win; the best he could hope for was a very final sort of draw. He made his peace with that knowledge. His last thought as he fell to the ground after dealing All for One a fatal blow was there was a certain sense of poetic justice in it, All for One and One for All disappearing from this world together.

Then he'd woken up.

Technically he'd been drifting in and out of consciousness all throughout the past two weeks, but today was the first time he'd regained true awareness of his surroundings. It was also the first time he'd been told the extent of his injuries. He had won, but in the process he'd become half the man he'd been, almost literally so.

Even as that dark train of thought descended upon him, he forced himself to shake it off. He was still All Might, and there was still work for the Symbol of Peace to be done. If his broken body could still fight, then he'd force it to keep doing so. And when it gave out and couldn't fight anymore? Well, he'd already made his peace with that outcome.

He got out of his hospital bed and sent One for All surging through his veins. The power couldn't heal his injuries, but it could hide them and allow him to keep going.

He'd made it only a single step forward when the door opened partway, and suddenly Nighteye was there, glaring at him. "Why must you always be so reckless?"

All Might was not deterred. "I have to-"

"No," Nighteye interrupted. "You're not going anywhere." With the air of a man playing his trump card, he pushed the door the rest of the way open. Standing there, both already in tears, were the Midoriyas.

"All Might!" Izuku cried. He ran across the room and launched himself at Toshinori, grabbing him tight about the waist.

Izuku was strong for a boy his age, but he was still only a nine-year-old boy. Normally All Might barely would have felt a thing. Yet this time when Izuku hit him the force of it knocked him clean out of his powered form. Inko gasped in shock, and Izuku let go and took a stumbling step backward. "All Might?" he asked uncertainly. "What happened to you?"

Toshinori dropped to his knees and pulled Izuku back into a hug. "It's okay. I am here," he said to the boy. Izuku was frozen for just a second, then he flung his arms around Toshinori and clutched the back of his hospital gown tightly in his hands. His body shook with the force of his sobs, each shake serving as a reminder that while All Might still had reasons to fight, Toshinori still had reasons to _live_. "I am still here."

* * *

Dagobah Beach was by most standards a bit of a dump, but it looked a lot better these days than it had when Toshinori had first come across this object lesson in the heroics of community service a year-and-a half ago. Still, the pier was a preferable place to stand and watch the sunrise from to the beach proper.

"All Mi– I mean Toshinori!" Izuku called as he came running over. Toshinori smiled to himself; it seemed silly to have the boy continue to call him by his hero name when they'd known each other so long and Izuku was now one of the few to be aware of his true form, but the changeover was clearly taking some getting used to.

"Hello, my boy," Toshinori said, giving Izuku a brief clasp to the shoulder.

"How are you feeling?" Izuku asked, an anxiously asked question that had and probably would continue to be a feature of their conversations for a long time to come. Somehow, Toshinori didn't mind.

"I'm doing great!" he said, pumping himself up to his muscle form. "I've completed my pulmonary rehabilitation program and I'm up to five hours a day in this form. Recovery Girl also thinks I could get up to a full six hours in time." If he continued to take care of his health, that was. She'd also said if he didn't take care of himself or if he pushed his limits that maximum time could very easily go down, and it would start to go down in a few years regardless. But that seemed like more than Izuku needed to be worried about.

"That's great! Oh, but you shouldn't be wasting your time for your muscle form for just standing here talking to me."

"Time with you is never a waste," Toshinori said, tousling Izuku's hair. Still, he let himself power back down to his true form.

The waves crashed against the shore as the sun slowly came up over the water. Izuku had to know there was a reason Toshinori had called him down here beyond a simple desire to spend time together, but he seemed content to wait for Toshinori to come to it at his own pace.

"I see you've still been hard at work while I was recovering," Toshinori said, nodding toward the beach. It might be a dump, but it was slightly less so as compared to what Toshinori remembered from the last time he'd been here a few weeks before his fight with All for One.

"Yeah," Izuku said. "I can't move any of the really big stuff on my own, but I thought that I shouldn't let that stop me from doing what I can to make the beach a better place for everyone to enjoy."

That kind of attitude was exactly why All Might knew he was making the right decision in making this offer to Izuku. "Do you remember the day you and I first met and what you asked me – told me back then?"

"Of course I remember!" Izuku said. "I know I said a lot of stuff to you when you were bringing me home that day, but the biggest thing I remember was asking you if you thought I could be a hero even without a quirk. Also I think I maybe said something about having bad feet."

Toshinori chuckled. "That you did, my boy. Let me tell you a secret: I have bad feet too." Izuku looked completely befuddled by that statement, and Toshinori embarrassedly waved it off. "Ah, don't worry about that now; it'll make more sense later.

"You were right the first time anyway. I was referring to your question as to whether you could become a hero. Since that day, I've never known you to waver from that dream despite knowing the challenges that may lay ahead of you. You've shown you have the heart and the drive it takes to be a true hero, and now it's my turn to ask you a question.

"I still have a number of years of saving the day left in me. I'm not going to let this injury stop me from doing what I can to make this world a better and safer place for everyone. But it has reminded me that I won't be able to keep going forever. Sometime in the future there will come the day where I have to step down as the Number One hero."

Toshinori looked down at Izuku and couldn't stop the thread of _too young, too young, too young_ from going through his mind. Even knowing there were still years left ahead of them to train Izuku's body to be ready and that when it finally came time Izuku would be about the same age Toshinori had been when he had accepted One for All, there was still a part of him that wanted to wrap Izuku up safe somewhere and protect him forever.

Izuku looked back up at him, his expression a little hesitant, but at the same time bright and expectant and hopeful. He was so ready to learn, to grow, to become, and suddenly it was easy to quash his doubts. Because as much as All Might might want to protect the boy, more than that, more than anything in the world, Toshinori wanted to stand back and watch Izuku shine.

"And on that day when I step down, I hope you will be willing to step up in my place as my successor."

Izuku was crying too hard to reply, but he didn't need to. His blinding smile was answer enough.

* * *

AN:Hello my lovelies! I want you all to know I adore each and every one of you dearly, and I would 100% throw you all under the bus for tiny Izuku and All Might cupcakes. I would expect no less from any of you.


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